Rallying ahead: SHC allows APML to go ahead with its rally

Pervez Musharraf-led party event scheduled for January 8.

KARACHI: A division bench of the High Court of Sindh (SHC) has allowed the Pervez Musharraf-led All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) to hold its rally, scheduled for January 8.

Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Salman Hamid passed the order on Friday. A petition was filed by APML Secretary General Haris Nawaz, naming the Sindh home secretary and Karachi commissioner as respondents. It asked the court to direct the home department and other authorities to allow the APML to hold its rally in the Shahrah-e-Quaideen area.

The petitioner said that APML applied for permission on December 22 and had not received a response, even though only a few days were left for the scheduled rally.

The bench heard arguments by Siddique Mirza advocate, the counsel for the petitioner, Additional Advocate General Saifullah and Abdul Waheed Kanju advocate, the counsel for the Quaid-e-Azam Mazar Management Board.

The respondents opposed the petition, pleading the importance of maintaining the sanctity of Quaid-e-Azam’s mausoleum. But the bench referred to the order passed by another petition filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and the terms and conditions under which the party was allowed to hold its rally at the same site on December 25.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2012.